The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) estimates that workplace conflict costs businesses £33 billion per year. It can also take up as much as 20% of leadership time to resolve.
If not recognised and managed in its early stages workplace conflict can have a big business impact. Not only financially, but in terms of loyal staff members who may also be lost if they feel forced to leave by the issues surrounding them.
The potential negative financial impact on your business may be enough to help you realise that conflict needs to be managed in your workplace, but give some thought to the personal impacts too.
Looking after the well-being of your team can pay dividends. According to the Mental Health Foundation, nearly two-thirds of people experience mental health problems. With 33% of workers admitting they regularly experience sleepless nights due to work stress. Therefore, for the sake of your staff as well as your business, having the knowledge to identify a potential conflict and taking steps to effect a resolution is key.
Conflict Resolution in a Small Business
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, over 99% of UK private sector businesses are classed as small.
Small businesses are dynamic and flexible but often run without HR departments or established policies and procedures. For this reason, resolving conflict quickly is vital in a small workplace. Without the corporate mechanisms being in place conflict can escalate and have a major impact on the company.
Conflict can be very damaging; to employee relationships and their mental wellbeing, but also to productivity, relationships with suppliers, customers and subsequently your bottom line.
Small businesses owners can act against the damaging effects of workplace conflict by understanding the best techniques to resolve conflict before it becomes destructive.
We believe that owners and managers in small businesses benefit from developing skills needed for effective conflict resolution. With our range of support options, we have something to suit all businesses and scenarios.
Our popular training courses are ideal for general pre-emptive learning. We can also come to your workplace and carry out coaching and mediation, dealing with specific issues and support you on the ground.
Conflict Resolution Support for Larger Organisations
At PJW, we recognise that every business works differently. We, therefore, offer a range of conflict resolution support that can be tailored to your needs.
If you want to train up a group of managers in having those difficult conversations and dealing effectively with conflict in their teams, we can run our comprehensive course on-site at your business location.
This could be as simple as appraisals and giving feedback on personal development deficiencies. Or resolving small disputes which are having a departmental impact.
If a department is facing specific issues that are not being resolved using common techniques, we can facilitate one to one coaching for the managers involved or deal directly with the issue to relieve the burden on the company.
We also offer follow-up and support to ensure that everyone involved remains as happy as possible with the outcome. We are also passionate about mentoring. This can be used to help people regain their confidence. It provides them with the tools to be able to move on from the situation they find themselves in.
Our team have a wealth of experience of working with a variety of industries in countries around the world. They have developed the skills to deal with the many conflict-causing situations that can arise in the work environment.
For further information about how we can help support your business or to sign up to our conflict resolution training courses, please get in touch.